The portable cooler was invented in Australia, where it is known as an “esky,” in the 1950s for keeping beer and other beverages cool even in warm climates. Today, a cooler is most commonly an insulated box, and it is used to keep food and drink cool. Coolers are often taken on picnics, to the beach, to tailgating events or on vacation. They are typically constructed of an interior and exterior layer of plastic, with a hard foam in between the two layers and come in all different sizes. Most coolers have a handle for easy carriage and some even have wheels, thus enabling transport without lifting the whole container. A typical shortcoming of these types of coolers, however, is the constant need to refill the box with ice or ice packs in order to keep the inside environment cool. When ice begins to melt, which will typically happen on a hot day within minutes, food and beverages are often saturated in the resultant water, making removal of the contained objects an unpleasant task.
Another use of portable coolers in recent years has developed with regard to organ donations and transplant. All organs only remain viable for a short period of time and for some organs, such as hearts, this time is about four hours. However, it has long been known that organs will survive ex vivo longer if they are kept at an extremely cool temperature. This is because, at that temperature, the metabolism is greatly reduced, lowering the requirements for nutrients and oxygen, and the production of lactic acid and other toxic end products of metabolism are also greatly reduced. Another possible medical use for coolers is to store and keep fresh certain medication. Some medication require medication, such as insulin, somatropin, and drugs that have been reconstituted. A person who is at the beach, or on a picnic may need to have that medication available for use during their trip. Furthermore, if there if a paramedic or other form of emergency personnel needs to transport that medication to a patient, a cooler can be used to keep the temperature low enough for the medication to be fresh. Therefore, it is well known in the art that coolers are serve medical purposes, such as to keep organs viable as they are transported for transplant and to keep medication refrigerated when necessary. In such a field, it would be necessary to be constantly replenishing ice or ice packs in order to keep the temperature at the desired level.
Thus, in the art, it is well known that some modern coolers are run, without ice or ice packs, by thermoelectric power, usually coming from a car's cigarette lighter socket. They typically operate through use of a fan and vent system and are able to maintain a temperature-controlled environment. One of the main problems of the prior art thermoelectric containers is that they do draw a significant amount of power however, and can drain a car's battery enough so that it cannot start. Most electric coolers have an undervoltage shutoff at around 10 or 10.5 to prevent this.
The present invention utilizes instead solar power to achieve refrigeration of the objects contained within its confines without necessity for ice and without needing to plug the container into a power source.